A few days back the newspaper The New Times - Rwanda reported on an event that is earth shattering in its uniqueness. The article was called "Join hands to achieve more, President tells Rwandans" in a futile attempt to beef up its appeal reporting about a mere presidential visit to a Kigali. The newspaper missed the importance of the event by seeing it for what it appeared to be from the exterior: a photo opportunity for the Rwandan president Kagame. From this perspective, we are also not interested in the least. Photo-ops (as they are called) are more common than the lies politicians tell all the time.

Yet, there is something completely different with this appearance and it is not the appearance itself. It is what the president said:

“We work together knowing where we are coming from and where we want to go. Rwandans should look at each other as partners, as people who gain more from staying together and working together”

According to the mayor of the Gasabo District, “The President gives a good example. His working with us is an important sign, it spreads the message that we can actually be self-reliant”

And

"people no longer shy away from developing infrastructure projects such as roads themselves instead of waiting for the government to do everything from scratch"

OMG!!!

This occasion was prompted to commemorate community work in Kibagabaga where residents dug a 3.5 km water channel on a road that was financed with their contributions including fibre optic cable, water and electricity!!!

OMG!!! OMG!!!

Quick! Give us a bag of paper. We are hyperventilating!!!

IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

Let's recap this for those who still don't get it. In the middle of nowhere a bunch of poor people (as per "developed" countries' standards) got together, saved, financed and built… infrastructure! They did not build minor "improvement" projects or "beautification" initiatives or some other form of token "community service" so-called "works". They built the most basic of all the basic necessities for a community to thrive. They did it. By themselves. Not the government, not NGO's, not charities, not yet another save-the-whatever movement. They did it!

They realized that personal initiative and entrepreneurship beats anything else all the time. They realized that their savings matter. They realized that their labour matter. They did not extend their hands and demanded "gimme, gimme, gimme" as most citizens-trained-monkeys in modern "socially just" countries do. They did not need to get into debt or pay ridiculous salaries to apparatchiks to get into debt for them. They did not required a Central Bank. They did not need a government contract. They just did it.

They just did it!

This is a beautiful example of things that most brainwashed people say that it cannot be done. Every time we speak with "average" people they keep saying that many things would not exist and cannot be implemented without governments. Central to "those things" is infrastructure. Well. There! What a beautiful rebuttal. No hypothetical scenarios. No theoretical conditions. No coercion. No political demands.

Just reality.

Plain. Simple. Reality.

Friggin WOW!!!

SUICIDAL POLITICIANS

And to make matters worse, this ungodly behaviour was supported not by one but two levels of government, one of which is the highest!

Can you imagine a politician, any politician in any so-called "developed" and "progressive" and "socially equitable" modern country giving a speech saying essentially go out and do it yourselves? Do not rely nor expect anything from the government? Believe in yourselves?

Hell no!

That goes directly against the first rule of government: make sure the drones voters believe they need a government!

For without this belief people will suddenly realize that they don't actually need a government. This is nothing but political suicide.

However in Rwanda, this is exactly what happened.

Politicians actively support and encourage these endeavours.

Madness!

Criminal behaviour!

They are political traitors!

There must be a medical explanation somewhere. Or at least a psychopathological one. Somebody must be spiking their drinks or perhaps they are all smoking weed. Peace maaaaan!

This is not "normal". This is so outside of "normal" parameters as to qualify as a Six Sigma event at minimum (i.e. Six Sigma refers to an event that it is at least six times the normal range away from the average). In politics Six Sigma events never happen. Politics is usually like gambling; statistically constant.

The actual explanation may be a simpler one. It has been implied that the President is acting more like a dictator than as a democratic president. If this is the case, he does not need votes and as a matter of fact, the less expenditure the government has, the better off he is. This is certainly a plausible scenario, yet, we don't really care. One Pandora's box has been opened, there is no going back. Once people evolve politically, there is no regression. We will take political evolution in every way we can.

REALITY WILL SURPRISE YOU

This is precisely why we are Libertarians, because when everything is said and done, the only person you can really trust is yourself, and the people you, personally, trust to work with you.

This concept of self-reliance is so far away from any political thought that we even wrote an article presenting it as a barrier (see The Leadership Barrier).

WOW!!! Evolution does happen in leaps, however tiny they may be.

To be absolutely honest we have no clue why this is happening in Rwanda, why is it happening now and why would these politicians willingly choose to commit political suicide. And in honesty, again, we don't really care. We are just so frigging happy that it happened that we only have one advice:

Don't stop!

Whatever you do, don't stop!

Libertarianism needs their heroes, but contrary to what other political points of view seek from heroes (i.e. a cult of personality), what Libertarianism demands from their heroes is… anonymity. We don't want leaders to follow, we want everybody to be a leader. We want people to wake up and realize that if a bunch of people did it all by themselves, those average people, those poor, tired, undereducated and hopeless people; there is no friggin reason why we can't do it. Actually, what Libertarianism demands from its heroes is that they put to shame other people in far better economic conditions simply with their acts and accomplishments. We don't need individual heroes, what we need is individuals acting.

CONCLUSION

This tiny and almost non-existent news really came as a boost to our depressing everyday wadding through the morass of this "socially aware and equitable" society. There you have it. The mighty entrepreneurship at work. This is what Austrian Economics and Libertarianism and Capitalism is all about. It just works. Period.

But of course, neither Austrian Economics, nor Libertarianism nor Capitalism is glamorous. For that we need Democracy and/or Communism and their endless propaganda machines. That's OK. It is entirely your choice. You can choose a reality that works or you can choose empty propaganda promises and misery. What? You don't like the choices? Fair enough, they you, that's right, you, go ahead and make a better one. We promise that if you manage to do so and it actually works (really works) we will be the first one to ditch all our current beliefs and join you. Your choice.

Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.